Today I learned about an interesting book called “The Dangerous Book for Boys.” The authors contend that the lives of boys today are too well programmed and too “safe.” An article in today’s newspaper describes the book:

But the truth is, many boys today frequently have little opportunity to do anything that isn’t scheduled or carefully orchestrated. About the closest they come to danger is losing a life on a video game or forgetting a homework assignment.

There is a sense in some quarters that we are not raising well-rounded boys with a sense of adventure and all manner of intriguing skills, and they know it. They hunger for something beyond Pokemon Pearl. And that’s why “The Dangerous Book for Boys,” a quirky compilation of seemingly random bits of information and lore, strikes such a chord. The British version of the book, by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden, was a runaway best seller, spawning a quick succession of copycats.

It’s possible that boys need to experience a certain amount of danger and adventure in order to grow into confident, mature men. Does our over-protective society deprive them of that opportunity? What do you think?

I have finished re-reading Evangelism Made Slightly Less Difficult by Nick Pollard. I love the realistic title of this book, which says nothing about making evangelism “easy.” This is the best book that I have seen on reaching those who are more postmodern in their thinking. Pollard is an evangelist and a speaker living in Great Britain who spends a lot of his time sharing the Gospel with university students. His writing style displays genuine humility and a willingness to share his failures as well as his successes.

Most of the traditional approaches to evangelism work fairly well with those who have some Christian teaching in their background and/or accept a fundamentally Christian world view. They also work fairly well with those who have learned quite a bit about the Christian faith and are exploring the possibility of becoming a Christian. But an increasing percentage of those around us, especially in the younger generation, no longer fit into those categories.

Pollard begins by dividing potential recipients of the Gospel message into four categories:

• people who are just about ready to become Christians
• people who want to become Christians, but are holding back because of questions and doubts
• people who are genuinely interested, but not sure where to begin because they know so little about Jesus
• people who are just not interested, either openly hostile or just apathetic

He then organizes his book by talking about how to reach out to each group, beginning with the last and working toward the first. The section on reaching the fourth group is by far the longest section and provide the subtitle for the book: “How to Interest People Who Aren’t Interested.” This, of course, is the most difficult group to reach.

How can we reach those who are not interested, and who may be satisfied with their world view and current manner of life? We are not called to preach the Gospel only to the interested, but neither can we force Christian beliefs on those who don’t want them. In this context, Pollard talks about the need for “Positive Deconstruction,” which involves encouraging satisfied non-Christians to explore their assumptions a little more deeply and helping them to see the areas in which they are inadequate. Once they see the need they will be more open to hearing about Jesus. That means that sharing the Gospel may begin with talking about a lot of other things. Many people today are simply not ready to jump right into the Four Spiritual Laws. This is something that was called “pre-evangelism” over 30 years ago by Frances Schaeffer, founder of L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland (see his book The God Who Is There).

I have just finished reading The Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future by Andy Stanley. The author is the son of well-known Christian leader Charles Stanley. Although this book is targeted for younger leaders, I found that the leadership principles covered in the book are helpful to leaders of all ages.

The book is divided sections, based off the sub-title: “Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future.” I will list the five points, along with a few comments and quotes:

1. Competence–Do less, accomplish more

He quotes Howard Hendricks to say “There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing that I must do. The secret to concentration is elimination” (p. 33).
“There is no necessary correlation between how busy you are and how productive you are. Being busy isn’t the same thing as being productive” (p. 34).

2. Courage–Courage establishes leadership

“A leader is someonee who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent.” (p. 51).
“Courage is essential to leadership because the first person to step out in a new direction is viewed as a leader. And being the first to step out requires courage. In this way, courage establishes leadership” (p. 51, emphasis his).

3. Clarity–Uncertainly demands clarity

“Contrary to what you might think, uncertainty actually increases with increased leadership responsibiliy. The more responsibility you assume as a leader, the more uncertainty you will be expected to manage” (p. 81, emphasis his).
“Clear direction in the face of uncertainty. If you are unable or unwilling to be clear when things are not certain, you are not ready to assume further leadership responsibilities” (p. 91).

4. Coaching–Coaching enables a leader to go farther, faster

This section is about the importance of having a leadership coach to help you grow as a leader. “Next generation leaders must realize that it is not the accomplishments of a coach that make him a valuable ally in the endeavor of leadership. Most of the time it is not even what a coach knows that makes him valuable. It is what he sees that counts” (p. 113, emphasis his). We all have our blind spots, and could all benefit from the wise counsel of a coach.

5. Character–Character determines the leader’s legacy

“We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be” (p. 131, quoting R. Ruth Barton)
“Nobody plans to fail, especially leaders. But to ignore the condition of your soul is the equivalent of planning to fail” (p. 153).
He defines character as “the will to do what’s right even when it’s hard” (p. 133).

I recommend this book for anyone serving in a leadership position, especially for younger leaders.

I have just finished reading The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (one of the books for my class). Written in the 16th century, this book is basically an instruction manual for those who are conducting spiritual retreats. There are a lot of instructions about how to do some meditation and prayer, including some things from his Roman Catholic background that we would find questionable.

I just want to share one interesting insight from the book about conscience [the comments in brackets are mine]:

The enemy considers carefully whether one has a lax or a delicate conscience. If one has a delicate conscience, the evil one seeks to make it excessively sensitive, in order to disturb and upset it more easily. Thus, if he sees that one will not consent to mortal sin [i.e. more serious sin], or venial sin [i.e. less serious sin], or even to the appearance of deliberate sin, since he cannot cause him to fall into a matter that appears sinful, he strives to make the soul judge that there is a sin, for example, in a word or passing thought where there is no sin.

If one has a lax conscience, the enemy endeavors to make it more so. Thus, if before a soul did not bother about venial sin, the enemy will contrive that it make light of mortal sin. If before it paid some heed to venial sin, his efforts will be that now it cares much less or not at all. [section 349]

I found this to be very insightful. It sounds like the thoughts of someone who has made a serious effort to resist temptation and live a holy life. In fact, it reminds me of the insights into temptation The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. The solution in either case is to be sure that our ideas of right and wrong are solidly founded on God’s revelation in Scripture.

I just finished reading the book TrueFaced: Trust God and Others With Who You Really Are (I know that I seem to be starting this blog with a lot of book reviews, but that is because I have to do 2000 pages of reading for the D.Min. class that I am taking later this month. Some of the books are pretty good. So I have added a new category for comments about books.)

The first part of the book talks about the masks that we all wear to try to hide who we really are, even from ourselves. It is only by experiencing God’s grace that we are able to stop pretending to be what we are not and receive the power to become the people He wants us to be.

The authors talk about the contrast between trying to live in The Room of Good Intentions and The Room of Grace. In the first room people strive very hard to please God by their efforts but are frustrated by their failures and so end up wearing masks to pretend that everything is alright even though it is not. In the second room we accept each other as sinners who are in the process of being transformed by God and we are free to be ourselves.

There is a lot more in the book… the chapter on forgiving others is worth the price of the book. If you read it don’t let the somewhat cheesy humor in the first part throw you off.. the book is definitely worth reading.

I just finished reading Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ by Dallas Willard. This book is both deep and practical. The central point of this book is that it is possible and necessary for us to be transformed in a way such that we become more and more Christ-like and that there are steps that we can take to help bring that about. The message is helpful and positive.. this isn’t a book to make you feel guilty for not doing enough.

One of the issues he raises is the fact that in the church we usually don’t actually expect people to grow to become more Christ-like. Instead, we focus on following our religious rituals and try to avoid some of the more blatant sins. Many of us don’t really believe that it is actually possible to live the sort of life that the Bible describes. People can remain selfish, proud, and bitter for years and it does not seem unusual. No wonder the world is not impressed.

This book is a helpful wake up call to the church. It is possible to become more Christ-like, and there is something that you can do to bring it about. This is a hopeful message to all who cry out “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.” (p. 22)

Willard calls us to become part of a world wide revolution of character. What would it look like if a community of believers actually lived their lives according to the pattern laid out in the Bible? Gandhi is quoted as saying that if only Christians would live according to their belief in the teachings of Jesus, “we all would become Christians.”

There is so much I could say about this book… maybe I’ll write more later. Willard is a professor in the philosophy department at USC, but don’t let that scare you away. He gives an excellent description of the different aspects of a person and how they work together in the process of transformation. If you are a new Christian or this book seems a little intimidating then I suggest that you first read The Life You’ve Always Wanted. The author, John Ortberg, is heavily influenced by Willard, and he says in the preface that the title he originally suggested to the publisher was “Dallas for Dummies.”